Time to Take This Seriously - Advice?

Sasquatch76

Hi folks. First off, thanks for this great forum - you're an absolute credit to boards.ie.

Right - I'm a 34 year old male, stand approximately 1.9m (6'3" in "old money"), and weigh 132 Kgs (about 290 lbs). I've been overweight my entire life, and apart from a few diets I was put on as a kid, I've never made a serious attempt to lose the weight. Quite simply, that HAS to change.

Up until about six weeks ago, I'd binge a few times a week, on the usual suspects of Pringles, ice cream, pizza etc. On non binge days, I was still eating huge portions, and probably far too many carbs (lots of bread and spuds etc). Every single day I was literally drinking anywhere between 2 and 3.5 litres of Coke. Anyway, you get the picture.

Six weeks ago, I decided that I needed to make serious changes, knowing that if I didn't, I would never put things right. So I cut out the binges altogether. I have replaced every drop of Coke with Volvic. Instead of a couple of sausage rolls in the canteen in work (as breakfast), I'm eating porridge at home before work. And these changes have worked so far. I've lost about 15 lbs in those 5 or 6 weeks. While this has been a huge boost to my self esteem and confidence, it's really just spurred me on to do things properly (hence this thread). Cutting out a few obvious bad habits will only take me so far, whereas the long haul needs a more methodical and thought-out approach (this is where ye come in ).

Now, I should point out that I am also exercising too, and my goal is to combine proper exercise and healthy eating to safely lose as much fat as is healthy. At the moment, exercise consists mainly of walking and some resistance cord work. I'll be getting advice re this side of things over on the Fitness forum, but I thought it best to have the diet sorted first - a good foundation if ya will.

Currently, my daily diet looks something like;

7:00 - bowl of porridge w/ a few prunes mixed in (although it's getting harder and harder to find Sunsweet prunes in the supermarkets )
10:45 - banana or half a sandwich (wholemeal bread, usually ham, cheese or similar)
1:45 - sandwich again, as above
3:45 - piece of fruit
6:30 - main dinner consisting of whatever the rest of the house is having, so could be anything, although never fried or dripping in grease. Still, portions are too big, too many carbs, and probably not as nutritious as it could be.
10:30 - couple of slices of toast, maybe with cheese.

I also now drink one or two cups of green tea every day, as well as 2-3 litres of water.

So there you have it. A damned sight better than what I was eating a few months back, but all things being equal, not a great diet by any means. I understand that 5 or 6 small meals is better for the metabolism than three larger meals, but obviously not if I'm eating the wrong foods to begin with. Clearly, the reliance on bread is terrible, and dinner needs to be more... controlled I suppose.

And what about portion sizes? This really confuses me. I know I should be getting more protein in there too, but where? All adivice, feedback on where to begin would be greatly appreciated!

EileenG

Well done on taking the first steps.

What strikes me is that you have a lot of bread in there, and no vegetables worth talking about, and probably not enough protein.

Porridge for breakfast is good, but you could try adding an egg occasionally instead of the prunes, it will boost protein and healthy fats, and keep you full longer.

Instead of one of the sandwiches, consider something like the same filling but with a big green salad instead, and a nice olive oil and vinegar dressing. You can buy lots of ready to eat salad, and often for a lot less than a sandwich.

Cottage cheese makes a good filling snack. Maybe try it instead of the toast at bedtime?

Six meals a day is good for controlling extremes of blood sugar, which is important if you are eating a diet high in sugar or refined carbs. It does not speed up your metabolism, and can encourage you to get into the habit of eating all the time.

One portion of carbs is a small slice of bread, half a bagel, half a cup of rice, half a cup of pasta (cooked, not raw), one small potato, 30-35g of cereal etc. The serving size for a recommended portion of grains or carbs is a lot smaller than most people realise, so they typically serve themselves about three portions of rice or pasta at once, and restaurants can serve up to five portions.

The good news is that portion for most vegetables is bigger than people realise, so you can eat less rice and more broccoli. Mashed cauliflower makes a very good substitute for rice/spuds.

Open a free account with www.fitday.com or www.dailyplate.com and keep a track of what you are eating.

Sasquatch76

EileenG wrote: »

Porridge for breakfast is good, but you could try adding an egg occasionally instead of the prunes, it will boost protein and healthy fats, and keep you full longer.

I love eggs, and would have no problem adding a poached egg to the breakfast menu! That's something I wanted to ask actually... How many eggs a day are okay? I certainly don't want to overdo it, but it'd be easy to fit them into other meals (like in a salad for lunch). So how many should I allow myself a day?

EileenG wrote: »

Instead of one of the sandwiches, consider something like the same filling but with a big green salad instead, and a nice olive oil and vinegar dressing. You can buy lots of ready to eat salad, and often for a lot less than a sandwich.

That's definitely doable, thanks.

EileenG wrote: »

Cottage cheese makes a good filling snack. Maybe try it instead of the toast at bedtime?

Yeah, I like it, so that won't be a problem. But again, I'm lost as to what would be an okay portion-size?

EileenG wrote: »

Six meals a day is good for controlling extremes of blood sugar, which is important if you are eating a diet high in sugar or refined carbs. It does not speed up your metabolism, and can encourage you to get into the habit of eating all the time.

This is where I have been badly misinformed, so glad I asked. Thank you.

EileenG wrote: »

Open a free account with www.fitday.com or www.dailyplate.com and keep a track of what you are eating.

Cool, and thank you

Right, so I do not eat 5-6 meals a day, do cut out most of the bread, add a lot more veggies, and I'll have improved things considerably?

EDIT: Forgot to ask about nuts! I see Tesco do (iirc) 100g bags of walnuts, pecans etc. Are these okay for snacking on, or even throwing a handful into another meal?

EileenG

Nuts are excellent for snacking on, just watch the portion size. They are frightening easy to over-eat. Divide a 100g bag into 3 or 4 portions as soon as you open it.

Eat as many eggs as you want. All the stuff about how they will send your cholesterol through the roof is well out of date. Eggs are great for dieting, in that they are impossible to binge on. If you are hungry, they're great, as soon as you've had enough, you stop.

A standard 200g tub of cottage cheese (Lidl do a nice one) would be a good supper. It should came out about 200 calories for the full fat version (much nicer than the low fat) which is almost the same as two slices of bread, and that's before you add the butter or cheese.

Learn to listen to your body, and eat when you are hungry, and not unless you are really hungry. In the long term, that's your best way to a healthy body and a healthy relationship with food, not calorie counting.

Acoshla

Sasquatch76 wrote: »

7:00 - bowl of porridge w/ a few prunes mixed in (although it's getting harder and harder to find Sunsweet prunes in the supermarkets

Just a quick reply, you can get Shamrock prunes in any Tesco/Dunnes etc, I always use them on my porridge.

Sasquatch76

EileenG wrote: »

Nuts are excellent for snacking on, just watch the portion size. They are frightening easy to over-eat. Divide a 100g bag into 3 or 4 portions as soon as you open it.

Eat as many eggs as you want. All the stuff about how they will send your cholesterol through the roof is well out of date. Eggs are great for dieting, in that they are impossible to binge on. If you are hungry, they're great, as soon as you've had enough, you stop.

A standard 200g tub of cottage cheese (Lidl do a nice one) would be a good supper. It should came out about 200 calories for the full fat version (much nicer than the low fat) which is almost the same as two slices of bread, and that's before you add the butter or cheese.

Learn to listen to your body, and eat when you are hungry, and not unless you are really hungry. In the long term, that's your best way to a healthy body and a healthy relationship with food, not calorie counting.

Thanks once again Eileen, I'll take all that onboard.

Sasquatch76

Update: Seriously impressed with the fitday and dailyplate sites. They look like extremely useful tools.

Transform

just watch the portions on everything you eat and eat for the weight you want to be not the weight you are

Sasquatch76

Okay, I've been following this for about a week and a half now, but due to some technical problems I'm only posting my revised diet up now. This is pretty typical of the last ten days or so;

7:00 - porridge oats (40g) made with skimmed milk and a drizzle of honey.
10:45 - hard boiled egg and a banana
1:45 - salad - either grilled chicken fillet or tuna chunks added to 250g of store-bought, pre-washed salad leaves (also might add tomatoes, red peppers, hard boiled egg or cottage cheese etc etc).
3:30 - piece of fruit (usually a kiwi or mandarin) and 6-8 pecan nuts.
6:30 - meat/fish (grilled) with shed loads of veg (broccoli, cauliflour, sprouts, green beans etc)
10:00 - depends if I'm hungry or not - if so, I eat half a tub of LF cottage cheese.

I'm also drinking 3L+ water a day. Am I ready to take the next step and get exercising, or does this still need tinkering?

Supercell

Fair play Sasquatch76, that looks spot on to my eyes.
Heathy, filling and nutritious, the right way to do it.

Khannie

+1. Looks really good to me. Better than my diet. Fair play.

foothhurl

Congrats on the weight loss super going when your ready and if your feeling up to it you should try your hand at cycling.... the cycle to work scheme running at the moment is excellent I am currently in the middle of getting fit and trying to lose weight myself I have started cycling on my old bike but need new one anyway best of luck with it:)

Sasquatch76

Thanks folks